During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students
I. Observation: It is obvious that Lynne's classes are all different in terms of level of knowledge, ability to stay on task, and amount of required direct instruction varied from class to class. The groups of students in the classroom are grouped into four different groups ranging from 4-6 students. The groups i the back seem to be the most compewtent and need the least amount of help, attention and guidance to complete tasks. It appears that way in each of Lynne's 3 6th grade science classes, and also seems to be organized that way for a reason. Lynne appears to teach to the class as a whole, aqnd asks questions constantly while circulating the room. She teached with worksheets and journals mainly, and asks questions while they read, discuss, or review their work. She also makes it a point to ask questions and call on the students that answer less frequently. She has also pointed out to me the students that need special attention in completing tasks and journals. She has also pointed out to me the students who have trouble completing homework and in class work. The organizational technique of teaching by Lynne seems to work in keeping her students on task. By being organized, and requiring organization, students know what to expect and are noticed in the classroom by other students when they are being incompetent and unprepared. This method allows Lynne to expect a certain respect from students, and vice versa.
II. Reflection: From working with students who take pride in their work I can see that they have bought into Lynne's organizational method of teaching. They come to class prepared and for them, this class is very easy. By following Lynne's program, there is practically no way for them to not do well in her class. If their homework is completed, and reviewd in class, they are then active in class discussion. This prepares them for tests and ensures success. By completing their journals, which include important topics throughout each unit, the students are using other methods for retaining information. The self grading, peer grading and teacher grading of these journals allows the students to see other's work and look at the information multiple times in another method for retaining information. The troubled students seem to be doing poorly because of being unprepared and unorganized. By not following through with journal entries, completed worksheets, and unfinished in class work, they basically remove themselves mentally, and orally from the classroom. When working with these students, instead of asking for help, they simply do not engage themselves in the activity after a few minutes and leave the page blank for a homework assignment they will more than likely never complete. Notes home to parents and plans for parent involvement go unnoticed sometimes. The constant need and attention for the students such as these is impossible for Lynne to handle while teaching the rest of the class. I am leaning towards Lynne's teaching style as one that I would strive for because it prevents opportunity for students to take over the class when they sense periods of instability and unorganization. No matter what the teaching style, there will always be students that are not involved for many reasons out of the teachers control. Yet, Lynne seems to be doing a great job at managing her classroom efficiently and in an acive learning way.
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your studentsI. Observation: It is obvious that Lynne's classes are all different in terms of level of knowledge, ability to stay on task, and amount of required direct instruction varied from class to class. The groups of students in the classroom are grouped into four different groups ranging from 4-6 students. The groups i the back seem to be the most compewtent and need the least amount of help, attention and guidance to complete tasks. It appears that way in each of Lynne's 3 6th grade science classes, and also seems to be organized that way for a reason. Lynne appears to teach to the class as a whole, aqnd asks questions constantly while circulating the room. She teached with worksheets and journals mainly, and asks questions while they read, discuss, or review their work. She also makes it a point to ask questions and call on the students that answer less frequently. She has also pointed out to me the students that need special attention in completing tasks and journals. She has also pointed out to me the students who have trouble completing homework and in class work. The organizational technique of teaching by Lynne seems to work in keeping her students on task. By being organized, and requiring organization, students know what to expect and are noticed in the classroom by other students when they are being incompetent and unprepared. This method allows Lynne to expect a certain respect from students, and vice versa.
II. Reflection: From working with students who take pride in their work I can see that they have bought into Lynne's organizational method of teaching. They come to class prepared and for them, this class is very easy. By following Lynne's program, there is practically no way for them to not do well in her class. If their homework is completed, and reviewd in class, they are then active in class discussion. This prepares them for tests and ensures success. By completing their journals, which include important topics throughout each unit, the students are using other methods for retaining information. The self grading, peer grading and teacher grading of these journals allows the students to see other's work and look at the information multiple times in another method for retaining information. The troubled students seem to be doing poorly because of being unprepared and unorganized. By not following through with journal entries, completed worksheets, and unfinished in class work, they basically remove themselves mentally, and orally from the classroom. When working with these students, instead of asking for help, they simply do not engage themselves in the activity after a few minutes and leave the page blank for a homework assignment they will more than likely never complete. Notes home to parents and plans for parent involvement go unnoticed sometimes. The constant need and attention for the students such as these is impossible for Lynne to handle while teaching the rest of the class. I am leaning towards Lynne's teaching style as one that I would strive for because it prevents opportunity for students to take over the class when they sense periods of instability and unorganization. No matter what the teaching style, there will always be students that are not involved for many reasons out of the teachers control. Yet, Lynne seems to be doing a great job at managing her classroom efficiently and in an acive learning way.